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- Description: Tested upgrading from GitLab 12.10.12 to 13.0.10 package in a multi-node
configuration. As part of the issue to [Fix zero-downtime upgrade process/instructions for multi-node Geo deployments](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/22568), we monitored for downtime using the looping pipeline, HAProxy stats dashboards, and a script to log readiness status on both nodes.
- Outcome: Partial success because we observed downtime during the upgrade of the primary and secondary sites.
- Follow up issues/actions:
- [Investigate why `reconfigure` and `hup` cause downtime on multi-node Geo deployments](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/228898)
- [Geo multi-node deployment upgrade: investigate order when upgrading non-deploy nodes](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/228954)
[Switch from repmgr to Patroni on a Geo primary site](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/224652):
- Description: Tested switching from repmgr to Patroni on a multi-node Geo primary site. Used [the orchestrator tool](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-orchestrator) to deploy a Geo installation with 3 database nodes managed by repmgr. With this approach, we were also able to address a related issue for [verifying a Geo installation with Patroni and PostgreSQL 11](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/-/issues/5113).
- Outcome: Partial success. We enabled Patroni on the primary site and set up database replication on the secondary site. However, we found that Patroni would delete the secondary site's replication slot whenever Patroni was restarted. Another issue is that when Patroni elects a new leader in the cluster, the secondary site will fail to automatically follow the new leader. Until these issues are resolved, we cannot officially support and recommend Patroni for Geo installations.
- Follow up issues/actions:
- [Investigate permanent replication slot for Patroni with Geo single node secondary](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/-/issues/5528)
- [Investigate if documentation should be modified to include refresh foreign tables task](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/-/issues/5041).
[Verify Geo installation with PostgreSQL 13](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/-/issues/6131):
- Description: With PostgreSQL 13 available as an opt-in version in GitLab 14.1, we tested fresh installations of GitLab with Geo when PostgreSQL 13 is enabled.
- Outcome: Successfully built an environment with Geo and PostgreSQL 13 using [GitLab Environment Toolkit](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-environment-toolkit) and performed Geo QA tests against the environment without failures.
- [`revert-pg-upgrade` fails to downgrade the PostgreSQL data of a Geo secondary's standalone tracking database](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/-/issues/5243).
[Test failover with object storage replication enabled](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/330362):
- Description: At the time of testing, Geo's object storage replication functionality was in beta. We tested that object storage replication works as intended and that the data was present on the new primary after a failover.
- Outcome: The test was successful. Data in object storage was replicated and present after a failover.
- Follow up issues:
- [Geo: Failing to replicate initial Monitoring project](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/330485)
[Validate Object storage replication using Azure based object storage](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/348804#note_821294631):
- Description: Tested the average time it takes for a single image to replicate from the primary object storage location to the secondary when using Azure based object storage replication and [GitLab based object storage replication](object_storage.md#enabling-gitlab-managed-object-storage-replication). This was tested by uploading a 1mb image to a project on the primary site every second for 60 seconds. The time was then measured until a image was available on the secondary site. This was achieved using a [Ruby Script](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/quality/geo-replication-tester).
- Outcome: When using Azure based replication the average time for an image to replicate from the primary object storage to the secondary was recorded as 40 seconds, the longest replication time was 70 seconds and the quickest was 11 seconds. When using GitLab based replication the average time for replication to complete was 5 seconds, the longest replication time was 10 seconds and the quickest was 3 seconds.
- [Validate Cross Region Object storage replication using Azure based object storage](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/358154)
### April 2022
[Validate Object storage replication using AWS based object storage](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/351463):
- Description: Tested the average time it takes for a single image to replicate from the primary object storage location to the secondary when using AWS based object storage replication and [GitLab based object storage replication](object_storage.md#enabling-gitlab-managed-object-storage-replication). This was tested by uploading a 1mb image to a project on the primary site every second for 60 seconds. The time was then measured until a image was available on the secondary site. This was achieved using a [Ruby Script](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/quality/geo-replication-tester).
- Outcome: When using AWS managed replication the average time for an image to replicate between sites is about 49 seconds, this is true for when sites are located within the same region and when they are further apart (Europe to America). When using Geo managed replication within the same region the average time for replication took just 5 seconds, however when replicating cross region the average time rose to 33 seconds.
[Validate Object storage replication using GCP based object storage](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/351464):
- Description: Tested the average time it takes for a single image to replicate from the primary object storage location to the secondary when using GCP based object storage replication and [GitLab based object storage replication](object_storage.md#enabling-gitlab-managed-object-storage-replication). This was tested by uploading a 1mb image to a project on the primary site every second for 60 seconds. The time was then measured until a image was available on the secondary site. This was achieved using a [Ruby Script](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/quality/geo-replication-tester).
- Outcome: GCP handles replication differently than other Cloud Providers. In GCP, the process is to a create single bucket that is either multi, dual or single region based. This means that the bucket will automatically store replicas in a region based on the option chosen. Even when using multi region, this will still only replicate within a single continent, the options being America, Europe, or Asia. At current there doesn't seem to be any way to replicate objects between continents using GCP based replication. For Geo managed replication the average time when replicating within the same region was 6 seconds, and when replicating cross region this rose to just 9 seconds.
[Test Gitaly Cluster on a Geo Deployment](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/223210):
- Description: Tested a Geo deployment with Gitaly clusters configured on both the primary and secondary Geo sites. Triggered automatic Gitaly cluster failover on the primary Geo site, and ran end-to-end Geo tests. Then triggered Gitaly cluster failover on the secondary Geo site, and re-ran the end-to-end Geo tests.
- Outcome: Successful end-to-end tests before and after Gitaly cluster failover on the primary site, and before and after Gitaly cluster failover on the secondary site.
